A few months ago I wrote about the awful experience my husband and I had when a television in our rental home was damaged by lightning. Our rental company sent a TV repairman to our house to investigate the damage. Unfortunately, the repairman chose to rip us off rather than investigate the damage. On the basis of the repairman’s details we agreed to forgo repairs and opted to purchase a new television.
When we arrived in North Carolina my husband and I took one good look at the TV and decided we’d like to try another repair shop. We lugged the TV out to the car and drove it home to Maryland. When we arrived home I called 12 local TV companies in and around our area. The phone numbers for a number of companies were no longer in service, some of the companies wouldn’t service Sanyo TVs, and a couple wanted us to commit to spending $700 – $750 in repairs. (In essence, they wouldn’t give us a quote in advance of repairs.) I considered a number of options including paying Sears $99 to investigate the TV to determine whether or not it could be fixed.
Then as luck would have it, a friend of ours suggested a TV repair shop close to my husband’s office. I called the shop and a lovely, older woman answered. She said they would investigate the TV for only $50. (This was the lowest rate I had been offered.) Even better, if the TV could be fixed they would subtract that $50 from the total cost.
The TV cost roughly $1000 just over a year ago when we purchased it. I figured a new television of similar size would cost at least $800 – $1000. So my husband and I talked it over and decided an investigation of the TV was definitely worth $50.
The following afternoon my husband dropped the TV off for repair and a little over a week later he walked out with a TV that is as good as new. The shop made all of the necessary repairs for $375 including parts and labor.
The 42 inch LCD TV has now replaced our ten year old TV that was neither LCD, plasma, or large for that matter. It may seem odd but the quality of the TVs in our rental home far exceeds the quality of our TVs at home. To be perfectly honest renters of beach homes expect big screen televisions. We have much lower standards in our own home.
We bought a new TV stand this afternoon from Target and set up the television in our living room. Between the TV and the stand we paid a little over $525, but I must admit that the picture quality is absolutely amazing compared to our old television.
A few weeks ago I wrote Should I Attempt to Fix a TV Struck by Lightning? I can now definitively answer YES!
What happened to all the honest, hardworking people out there? I hate being riped off.. glad to hear it worked out for you!
I read on someone else’s blog about how they contemplating buying new or getting a repair, and it can definitely be a frustrating decision to make. Sounds like you got a good deal! Now that electronics seem so much cheaper than they used to be, I do wonder if buying new can save time in the long run. Then again, putting down a few hundred is easier said than done.
What was the name of the tv repair shop! I live in Maryland and love to collect the names of affordable honest business owners.
@aya@thrive: We definitely struggled with the question of buying new or fixing the current one. Our decision was price based. If the cost of repairs was 50% or more than the cost of a new one then we would have opted to forgo repairs.
@patsy: Odenton TV & Radio on Annapolis Road